Fame: I’m going to make a very serious attempt to live forever, though no warranties are implied or given.

So tonight I dubbed Fame from VHS to DVD-R, and to be honest, this one’s gonna be a walk in the park. The master tape is in SP, so believe it or not, it’s considerably sharper despite still being VHS. Also, fortunately, the action seems to be confined to a single camera – I haven’t seen any switching-back-and-forth – which caused the huge number of problems with Up The Down Staircase – at all. This means you get a few more random camera movements – trying to follow people, the camera being bumped, and so on. But I think that’s the sort of thing you expect on something like this. There’s one tape edit toward the end that’s a bit messy, but it seems to be right in the middle of a fade-down on the stage and house lights, so that’s easy enough to skip. Sound quality’s pretty good for a camera that’s 1/3 of the length of the auditorium back from the stage.

This is another case where a bunch of synapses that haven’t fired in 20 years kicked in, and I remembered a heap of stuff. I think I realize now why I was so keen on being in Mrs. Werner’s house band – it kept me from having to get out there and dance! That’s a sight that nobody needs to see. Ever. (Probably right up there with my acting!)

One thing that came screaming back to me was the whole Barry Youngblood thing. I suppose he had a bit of a thankless job – I seem to remember it was Gerald Wells who was originally up for that part? Seems like I recall he was under a lot of pressure to choose between track and drama department, and the nature of the rehearsal schedule vs. practices and track meets meant that it couldn’t be both, and I think there was a near-revolt when he opted to stick with track. So Barry came into this thing with everyone primed to dislike him simply because he wasn’t the guy we all wanted in the part. Unfair on the one hand, but I think in the tryouts, Gerald had the character nailed down in a way that Barry didn’t ever really seem to come to terms with. A no-win situation for everyone all around.

I’m amused at Rob being a teacher at the beginning of the play, complete with “grey” shoe polish in his hair, and then from the middle of the play onward he joins the swarm of dancers, now wearing shorts…but still with grey hair! Ha! And hey, Chris is singing a Depeche Mode song about an hour and ten minutes in…I wonder, who among us could possibly have introduced a Depeche Mode song to the proceeedings? Like…maybe…someone who had a propensity for racing to the nearest piano and pounding out “But Not Tonight” or U2’s “Blood Red Sky” like there was no tomorrow? 😛 (What’s funny is that, in watching the play, what comes back to me is stuff that happened in the rehearsals. I remember most of the “drama” from this drama department production being backstage.)

With the amount of effort that cleaning up UTDS entails, it’s a relief to find that Fame, at least, is in good shape. But of course, what you really want outta this deal is…some more screen grabs. You have been warned…!

I’m drawing a bit of a blank on names here. Was that Jennifer Threadgill as Michelle Obana’s “mom”?